Ruth Herne - Their Surprise Daddy

They were killing him.

Worse?

He knew what they were saying. Times had changed and unless you were familiar with smart technology, you were stuck waiting for access to information in fewer spots than there used to be. He slugged his coffee, pulled up the baseball box scores online and motioned the guys over. “Check it out, boys.”

“For real?” They moved, en masse, coffees in hand, and slid into the other three seats at his table.

Sadie came by with more coffee. She caught his gaze and smiled. “Nice.”

He hadn’t really had a choice, not when they’d started talking baseball. He lived in a city with two of the greatest baseball teams in history, and he hadn’t gone to a game. Ever. Time was money in New York.

Time is money anywhere, his conscience reminded him. But it’s more money in Manhattan. You might want to think about why that’s become so important.

He set the open laptop at the end of the table so all three men could see it, and as they jabbered about who’d done what on the West Coast, the diner door opened.

“Well, it looks like the early bird has gone and caught herself two of the sweetest little worms I ever did see!” Sadie exclaimed as Rory Gallagher came in with Lily and Javier. “This is a nice surprise, Rory!”

“My toaster’s not working, I had no cereal and I need to feed these two before the school day starts.” She smiled down at the kids, back up at Sadie, then she saw him.

Her smile faded, but it brightened again when she spotted the crew at his table. “Good morning, gentlemen.”

“If it ain’t the prettiest of the Gallagher girls stoppin’ by!”

“Ain’t them Rosa’s younguns?”

“They are.” Rory said nothing about yesterday’s drama. “They get to stay with their teacher for a little bit. How cool is that?”

“I think it’s a fine thing, Miss Rory.” The blue-eyed man seemed to understand more of what had transpired than the others. “A perfect place to grow and run and laugh while the dust settles.”

“Thank you, Badge.”

He didn’t nod or smile, but the old guy’s expression indicated approval. He slugged more coffee, then stood. “Boys, let’s get up and make some room here. Miss Rory needs a place to sit with the kids.”

“With all them empty seats?” Surprised, the taller man swept the mostly empty restaurant a quick glance.

Rory waved them off and indicated the next booth. “We can sit here. That way the kids can see Cruz while he works.” She flashed him a cool look of dismissal, as if working on a weekday morning was the root of all evil. Last time Cruz looked, it was considered normal, but he closed the laptop and faced her as the men moved back to their original table.

She didn’t sit with him. She herded the kids into the adjacent booth, ordered eggs and pancakes and orange juice for Lily and Javier, and coffee for herself.

Was she not hungry? Or broke?

Only one way to find out. He stood and slipped into her booth, next to Lily. “Morning, guys.”

Javier stared at him, uncertain. Lily looked less concerned. “Miss Rory told us that you know our Mimi.”

“Mimi?”

“Rosa,” Rory explained softly. “That’s what they call her.”

“Not Abuela?”

Rory met his gaze, and realization sank in. “Of course, Elina’s mother would have been Abuela.”

“And they started with Mami for Rosa, but Javier morphed it to Mimi and it stuck.”

“Your Mimi is my mother.” Cruz looked down at Lily. Elina’s eyes gazed up at him. His heart winced a little more as he thought of his cousin’s choices. “And your mommy was my friend and my cousin.”

“She died.” Javier announced the words in a voice that showed a lack of understanding. “She might come back. She might not. Mimi doesn’t know.”

Lily leaned across the table, so serious. “No one can come back when they die, Javi. They have to go live with God in heaven and there’s no way back.”

The little guy’s face darkened. He stared at his sister and whispered, “She might come back, Lily. She might.”

Cruz’s chest went tight. Seeing Elina’s fate through the eyes of two innocent children, emotion gripped him.

They loved his mother.

The irony of that didn’t sit well, because he could look back and count the few happy times on his fingers. His mother had been a tough taskmaster, a woman overseeing a burgeoning business overlooking Canandaigua Lake, and nothing mattered more than her success. Her vineyard, her special events center, was straight out of the hills of Tuscany. Casa Blanca meant more to her than anything. More than her hardworking Latino husband, and certainly more than her only son.

But these children seemed bonded to her. Was it an act? Or had Rosa Maldonado changed?

He had no way of knowing, but he wasn’t about to let two innocents go through similar experiences. Not if she was still the tough, overbearing, money-solves-everything woman he remembered.

Rory slipped an arm around Javier and drew him close. “No matter what happens here on earth, God’s in heaven watching over us. Smiling down at us, wanting us to be happy and strong. And now your mama is there with him, loving you from up there. But here on earth, God has other folks to love you. Lily, Mimi, Cruz and me, just to name a few. You will always be our beloved little boy. That will never change, darling.”

The little guy nestled into the curve of her arm. “I know.” The two words came out in a whisper. “I just miss her, is all.”

Cruz’s eyes got misty.

Sadie saved the moment by slipping two plates of pancakes and scrambled eggs in front of the kids, then refilling the grown-ups’ mugs. “Rory, you sure I can’t get you somethin’, darlin’?”

Rory shook her head. “I’m fine, Sadie, thanks.”

“All right, sweetie.”

Sweetie. Darlin’. Sweet things... Cruz couldn’t remember the last time someone called him sweetie in New York. Probably never. Because why would they?

And yet it seemed real nice to hear those words here.

Lily knelt up on the booth’s seat to get a better vantage point on her food. Her first attempt at the eggs had them sliding to the floor quickly. Cruz handed her his spoon. “Try this. Eggs are slippery.”

“They are!” She accepted the spoon and didn’t seem to mind that he’d stirred his coffee with it. “And they jiggle. Jell-O jiggles, too. I like jiggly food.”

Rory laughed.

Cruz lifted his eyes to hers. “Jiggly food is funny?”

“My sister won’t eat food that jiggles. She says it’s unnerving. I’m happy to see Lily has no such qualms.”

“Did they sleep well?”

“As well as any of us could with a crazy day behind us and a new normal awaiting. I expect tonight will be better. Drew called and told me he offered you the carriage house apartment.”

“I’ll find a hotel as soon as I can, so I’m not inconveniencing anyone.” Cruz sipped his coffee. “No reason to make difficult circumstances more so.”

“Why stay somewhere else when you can stay there for free?” She looked puzzled, as if the idea of spending money worried her. So maybe she did like breakfast and couldn’t afford it, but sacrificed for the two kids.

Now he felt like a complete moron.

“I need internet access and there’s no air-conditioning.”

She sat back and looked distressed. “The window unit.”

“Excuse me?”

“Drew took it out last fall and stored it downstairs over the winter, and then they moved into their new house before it got hot. I forgot all about that, and I’m sure he did, too. Oh, Cruz.” She leaned forward, and looked honestly concerned. “You must have roasted.”

“I may have discovered a new scientific melting point.”